Google announces a revolutionary tool called "Immersive View" to explore neighbourhoods, monuments and commercial areas etc by combining Street View and aerial imagery. They are currently expanding on the idea of a traditional 2D map to give a spectacular perspective of cities on devices.

What does it do?

Stitching billions of images from Street View, their application digitally recreates places of interest. The result is a detailed interactive digital model of the environment. Areas can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, including road levels and heights. To add to the realism, shadows, clouds and even birds are being dynamically incorporated into the AR.

What can you see?

As soon as an area is selected, the app highlights important monuments and popular attractions. A virtual journey to the location can be undertaken by checking the shortest routes, traffic congestion, and weather conditions.

The app even provides a slider to give a glimpse of how the place looks at different times of the day.

Additionally, users can even virtually explore the interiors of restaurants for their ambience.

What cities are available?

Google is rolling out "Immersive View" in a few select cities such as Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo with more cities coming soon.